What does everyone think about 'I'm A Rainbow',the 1981 double-album that was rejected by her record company? Do you think this album would have been a big hit in 1981? What are your favorite songs on it?

Opines of 'Rainbow' and its fate if released in '81 have been aplenty. I'd be interested in hearing thoughts on 1974's 'Lady Of The Night'.

SoulAlive said:

What does everyone think about 'I'm A Rainbow',the 1981 double-album that was rejected by her record company? Do you think this album would have been a big hit in 1981? What are your favorite songs on it?

IMO, it would have been solid commercially without having any massive hit a la "Bad Girls" or "Hot Stuff". That was the only problem with that album, IMO... the lack of an obvious big hit. There are too many tracks on it that could have feasibly been chosen as the lead single.

Favourite tracks? "Melanie", "Runner With The Pack", "Brooklyn", "I'm a Rainbow", "Don't Cry for Me Argentina".

I agree,and I believe Giorgio Moroder said something similiar: there is no real 'obvious' hit single on that album.Some good songs,to be sure,but nothing that would have been a major hit single.

My favorite tracks: "Back Where You Belong","Walk On (Keep On Walkin)" and "Runner With The Pack".

I have never heard the I'm A Rainbow album...... I wonder: is it a bootleg..?

I don't like the song Lady Of The night - too sugar sweet, and not really that good a song.., but when I was young I liked The Hostage a single release from that album, right? (Today I find The Hostage rather silly, kind over over dramatic, and silly music, production)....

Sorry to those who likes these 2 songs by Donna Summer..

Do I need to say I these:

all the Casablanca albums +
The Wanderer +
the "1982 Donna Summer" album


^ Beautiful music...

thedance said:

I have never heard the I'm A Rainbow album...... I wonder: is it a bootleg..?

No,it's an 18-track double album that Donna recorded in 1981,but it was rejected by her record company (Donna was sent into the studio with Quincy Jones to make a 'replacement' album).'I'm A Rainbow' was finally released in 1996 and remastered last year as part of the Donna Summer box set of her 80s albums.

^ Hey SoulAlive,

I will try to listen somewhere, I guess I'm A Rainbow is on amazon or maybe iTunes. Thanks for the info.. much appreciated.

thedance said:

^ Hey SoulAlive,

I will try to listen somewhere, I guess I'm A Rainbow is on amazon or maybe iTunes. Thanks for the info.. much appreciated.

yeah,it's on Amazon,iTunes,everywhere

Thanks again,

I found the album on amazon, link :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/R...+a+rainbow


^ I'm listening to the samples

[Edited 3/8/15 18:33pm]

my favorite song from I'm A Rainbow.......

"Back Where You Belong"

Wow .... I like what I hear, these songs from "I'm A Rainbow" are much better than what I expected.....


I can't believe I have discovered all those songs, just now, after all those years..

Great..... I am gonna buy the cd..... and I see it's also on 2LP vinyl... just wow..

This was supposed to be her follow-up to The Wanderer.Instead,David Geffen insisted that she make an R&B album.He recruited producer Quincy Jones for the 1982 self-titled album.

which begs the question....did David Geffen make the right decision?

I have just ordered both the cd and the 2-lp vinyl from a danish site.... stereostudio.dk, it was a bit lower in price than amazon.co.uk...

Thanks again SoulAlive, you have made me quite excited.......

SoulAlive said:

This was supposed to be her follow-up to The Wanderer.Instead,David Geffen insisted that she make an R&B album.He recruited producer Quincy Jones for the 1982 self-titled album.

which begs the question....did David Geffen make the right decision?

Maybe it was a right decision, I can't answer.. but I know the 1982 album is completely fantastic...

But still it's also very strange the "Raibow" album wasn't released until 1996.. so strange, because what I hear... it also sounds good..

tritoncin said:

leecappella said:

Awww. That's sweet:) I post here on very, very rare occasions, if I see something I want to reply to. You can find me on Facebook, if you're interested. I post, mainly, music. My name is Jimmie, so I call the songs I feature the Jimmie Jam Of The Day. That's, probably, what I called them when I posted here. Or, maybe, it was the Summer Song Of The Day here on the org. Of course, Donna Summer is still my favorite singer of them all, so I have designated Sundays as Donna Summer Sunday on my Facebook page. There's a music video of the song of the day and a Top 20 weekly countdown I share of the songs I'm playing the most during the year, just 'cos I love countdowns when Donna Summer is in the equation:) My Facebook page link is below. Always take a little Summer with you and thanks for missing me. I appreciate that kind statement.

Feel free to 'friend' me:

https://www.facebook.com/jimmieleecappella

[Edited 3/3/15 17:35pm]

It's so ggod to read you leecapella, I remember your posts too. Love Donna.
Are you in any of Donna Facebook tribute groups?

Hugs.

Hey! I am in two groups:

This one: https://www.facebook.com/...302132790/ and

this one: https://www.facebook.com/...088122516/

I don't post much in either though:) Feel free to friend me on Facebook, if you'd like for more Summer songs and music by others in my music collection: https://www.facebook.com/...eecappella

Thanks for your reply to me.

[Edited 3/9/15 3:53am]

[Edited 3/11/15 16:32pm]

SoulAlive said:

What does everyone think about 'I'm A Rainbow',the 1981 double-album that was rejected by her record company? Do you think this album would have been a big hit in 1981? What are your favorite songs on it?

Per the remastered "I'm A Rainbow" booklet notes, this album was put on hold because David Geffen wanted Donna to go a more R&B route, which led her to being produced by Quincy Jones on the self title, "Donna Summer" album. I suppose, rejected is also fitting:) Geffen thought Donna's rock album the previous year, "The Wanderer" lost her the dance music following and didn't win her any rock fans in the process. I, personally, think Donna was more into doing what she wanted, song wise, and if a hit came of it, good. If not, fine. My favorite tracks on "I'm A Rainbow" are "True Love Survives", "You To Me", "Leave Me Alone", "Melanie", "I'm A Rainbow", "A Runner With A Pack", "Highway Runner", and "Romeo". I think "Leave Me Alone" would have been a hit. How much of one, I don't know, but I always like hearing Donna do rock. Her versatility in genre and vocal delivery always amazed me. It's the reason she tops my list of female singers.

[Edited 3/9/15 4:02am]

SoulAlive said:

This was supposed to be her follow-up to The Wanderer.Instead,David Geffen insisted that she make an R&B album.He recruited producer Quincy Jones for the 1982 self-titled album.

which begs the question....did David Geffen make the right decision?

Does anyone know if Geffen ever considered trimming the album back to just one disc of 10 songs? There's certainly enough songs to still make what I think would still be a solid album with commercial appeal and radio airplay. My favorite songs off the album are I Believe (In You) (which I think would have made for a great lead single), You To Me, Melanie, A Runner With The Pack, Romeo and I Need Time.

UnderMySun said:

SoulAlive said:

This was supposed to be her follow-up to The Wanderer.Instead,David Geffen insisted that she make an R&B album.He recruited producer Quincy Jones for the 1982 self-titled album.

which begs the question....did David Geffen make the right decision?

Does anyone know if Geffen ever considered trimming the album back to just one disc of 10 songs? There's certainly enough songs to still make what I think would still be a solid album with commercial appeal and radio airplay. My favorite songs off the album are I Believe (In You) (which I think would have made for a great lead single), You To Me, Melanie, A Runner With The Pack, Romeo and I Need Time.

As far as I know,Geffen didn't like the album at all and never considered trimming it down.Two tracks appeared in a couple of 80s movies."Romeo" was in 'Flashadance' and "Highway Runner" was in 'Fast Times At Ridgemont High'.

thedance said:

SoulAlive said:

This was supposed to be her follow-up to The Wanderer.Instead,David Geffen insisted that she make an R&B album.He recruited producer Quincy Jones for the 1982 self-titled album.

which begs the question....did David Geffen make the right decision?

Maybe it was a right decision, I can't answer.. but I know the 1982 album is completely fantastic...

But still it's also very strange the "Raibow" album wasn't released until 1996.. so strange, because what I hear... it also sounds good..

I agree....the self-titled,Quincy Jones-produced album is superb....probably my favorite Donna album of the 80s.The great thing is,we now have both albums to enjoy For many years,we didn't.

purplethunder3121 said:

SoulAlive said:

^^"Walk Away" is one of her best songs love the second verse...

I'm sure that I'll get over you,it'll take me awhile,you see

Next time,there won't be no next time....save all my feelings for me

This whole song is just perfection IMO.

"Walk Away" is a gem that could have been one of her biggest hit singles,but Casablanca Records ruined its chances.They should have released it as a single in 1979...it would have been a perfect fourth single from Bad Girls and would have easily followed "Dim All The Lights" into the Top 10.However,Casablanca decided to quickly move on and start focusing on her next album,On The Radio(a 2-LP greatest hits set) and the Barbra Streisand duet "Enough Is Enough".Here's where it gets interesting in 1980,Donna sued Casablanca and signed to Geffen Records.In the fall of 1980,as she was preparing to release a new album,The Wanderer on her new label,Casablanca played a cruel trick on her.They released "Walk Away" as a single...the exact same time that Donna's new single "The Wanderer" was climbing the charts! They tried to confuse listeners by releasing a year-old song,making it compete on the charts with Donna's "real" new single....lol...